Africa is poised to begin a new day

Tomorrow, May 25, is Africa Day. The continental celebrations, in which we will also participate, mark the founding of the Organisation of African Unity in 1963 and the adoption of its Charter.

We will both celebrate the OAU and renew our commitment to the achievement of the objectives that were agreed when the organisation was established, including the important goal of African unity.

The OAU Charter said the founding African governments were "desirous that all African States should henceforth unite so that the welfare and well-being of their peoples can be assured". It went on to say that the OAU would "promote the unity, and solidarity of the African States".

The Charter that was adopted called for freedom, equality, justice and dignity for all Africans and stated that it was the responsibility of the nations of Africa to harness the natural and human resources of the continent for the benefit of the people.

The Charter also enjoined Africans to consolidate their hard-won independence and establish and maintain conditions for peace and security.

As we know, the OAU will hold its last Summit Meeting in Durban in July this year. It will be replaced and succeeded by the African Union (AU).

Africa Day 2002 should therefore also be a day of thanksgiving. We should give thanks that during its lifetime, the OAU did everything to secure the total liberation of our continent.

This position was in keeping with the provision in the Charter of the OAU, which committed the continent to "absolute dedication to the total emancipation of the African territories which are still dependent".

Even as the South African government of the day tried its best to bribe, intimidate or terrorise independent Africa to abandon its principled position, the OAU ensured that our continent maintained its militant unity in favour of our liberation from apartheid.

At that time, powerful forces in the world, including countries that today demand that Africa should not talk to the Government of Zimbabwe, insisted that the problem of apartheid could not be solved by not talking to the white minority government, the imposition of sanctions or the waging of an armed struggle. Instead, they urged "constructive engagement" and said -easy does it!

Against all this, the OAU stood firm. It insisted that the people of our country could only gain their freedom if we struggled for it. It ensured that Africa did not waver in its support of the struggle we had to wage.

Because of the positions it took, as in the case of our country, in the three decades of its existence, the OAU was able to make a decisive contribution to the global liquidation of the system of colonialism.

Because of this historic victory, Africa Day 2002, the last during the lifetime of the OAU, should, for us, be an occasion for thanksgiving.

During the nearly four decades of its existence, the critics of the OAU regularly predicted its collapse. These sceptics did not believe in the dream of African unity. They hoped that Africa would, in time, lose its capacity to plan and act together.

In spite of the challenges internal to Africa facing the very continuation of the organisation and the sustained external pressures for its dissolution, the OAU continued to live, as it does today.

It did so because our leaders and peoples never gave up the dream of African unity and never abandoned the principle of African solidarity and the understanding that we share a common destiny.

They laid the strong foundations that make it possible for the present generations of Africans to take the next critical steps towards the political and economic integration of Africa. This is yet another reason that Africa Day 2002 must be an occasion for thanksgiving.

The results that have been achieved were realised because we had the African masses and many patriots who were inspired by the vision of the future Africa spoken of in the Charter of the OAU. Among them are leaders who stand out as leaders who gave millions hope that Africa's dreams would be realised.

These include Abdul Gamal Nasser of Egypt, Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Mohamed V of Morocco, Ahmed Ben Bella of Algeria, Modibo Keita of Mali, Sekou Toure of Guinea (Conakry), Patrice Lumumba of Congo, Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, Leopold Senghor of Senegal, Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia, Agostinho Neto of Angola, Joshua Nkomo of Zimbabwe, Amilcar Cabral of Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde, Eduardo Mondlane of Mozambique and Albert Luthuli of South Africa.

Whatever mistakes they made during their histories, because of their circumstances and their times, as Africans we cannot deny the fact that they held high the torch of African freedom, solidarity, unity and renaissance.

In so doing, they inspired generations of millions of Africans to strive for the attainment of these goals. Even today, as we take new steps towards the birth of the Africa they visualised, their names remain on our lips and their example in favour of Africa's renewal, remains an undying source of inspiration.

Africa Day 2002 must therefore also be a day on which we celebrate the lives and contributions of the African heroes and give thanks that we had heroes and heroines who had the vision and courage to sustain the vision of an Africa free of oppression, poverty and marginalisation.

Today, as we celebrate Africa Day 2002, all Africa believes that our continent is poised to begin a new day. The millions of our people wait in anticipation for the further maturation of the African dream, building on what has been achieved since the Charter of the OAU was adopted in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in 1963.

These masses wish for such an outcome because, correctly, they do not want a repetition or continuation of many of the wrong things that have afflicted the peoples of our continent during the last 40 years.

They do not want to see their countries ruled by non-elected military regimes. They do not want to see their countries torn apart by war, imposing intolerable suffering on the people, as happened in Sierra Leone and elsewhere.

They do not wish that again we experience the terrible genocide we witnessed in Rwanda. They desire that the millions of refugees and displaced Africans should return to their homes.

The peoples of our continent want to see an end to the poverty and underdevelopment, which condemn the majority of Africans to a life of misery. They want an end to the situation according to which as the rest of the world experienced growing economies, our continent regressed into even greater poverty. They want the global marginalisation of Africa to come to an end.

To respond to these expectations, our continent has taken the decision to form the African Union and to implement NEPAD, the New Partnership for Africa's Development, the socio-economic development programme of the Union.

Africa Day 2002 must therefore be a day on which all of us in our millions commit ourselves to a determined effort to build the African Union and implement NEPAD. These two projects are not merely about the further political and economic integration of our continent, important as these objectives are.

They are about a true renewal of our continent. They are aimed to achieve Africa's Renaissance, the rebirth of our continent. Africa must become a continent of democracy, peace and safety. It must become a truly welcoming home for all its peoples, regardless of race, colour, ethnicity or religion.

Africa must become a continent of prosperity and human upliftment. Africa must become a continent of great learning and rich cultural expression. It must become a continent of freedom for women, happiness for the children, respect and support for the disabled and the elderly.

To bring about these results will require the united effort of all the peoples of Africa. As Africans, regardless of our social roles, we have to take it as our responsibility to participate in a gigantic and common effort to give birth to the new. None of us should stand aside as a spectator in the mistaken belief that the responsibility to rebuild our continent is the responsibility of only some of our people.

To guarantee the success of the effort to renew Africa will also require the building of a genuinely new partnership both among ourselves and between our continent and the rest of the world, especially the developed world.

For the partnership to succeed will need that all the partners, including ourselves, learn new ways of doing things. It will require the development of mutual trust and respect, the commitment to carry out what has been agreed and a true adherence to the principle of human solidarity.

The period ahead of us will impose special responsibilities on the leadership of our continent. I am speaking here of our entire leadership -government and political, trade union and business, women and youth, education, culture and sport.

More than at any other time, this leadership will have to apply itself with the greatest diligence to its task of leading our peoples and countries. To carry out this task, it will have to master the details of the work that has to be done, on a continuous basis. It will have to focus on the achievement of results within set time periods.

This leadership will have to work hard to ensure that we root out corruption in our societies so that all available resources reach especially the poor in our countries. It will have to maintain the greatest contact with the masses of the people, to raise their level of awareness, to learn from them, to motivate and inspire them to act decisively and with passion for the rebirth of Africa.

Africa Day 2002 provides this leadership with the opportunity to reaffirm its commitment to respond to these demands. When we say happy Africa Day to all, this must mean that we are making a serious undertaking to turn our Africa into a happy home for all our people.

Restructuring state assets

Progress in line with transformation programme

The restructuring of certain state assets to more effectively meet South Africa's development and economic needs is proceeding in line with the programme and policies of the ANC - trying to ensure at all times that there is effective consultation with all stakeholders.

This was the thrust of a major announcement by government last week reporting progress made so far in restructuring, and outlining some of the tasks ahead. This restructuring covers a number of processes, including, but not limited to, increasing the role for the private sector in key industries.

The restructuring of state assets is necessary to ensure that the country's resources are effectively harnessed to encourage social and economic development, and that the needs of the country's poor can be met on a sustainable basis.

Restructuring has contributed over R20 billion to the national revenue fund since 1997. Better financial management, the steady resolution of debt burdens, and an improvement in credit ratings as a result of restructuring benefits has meant that more funds are now available for badly needed infrastructure development.

The value of resources released through restructuring, which provides a welcome stimulus to development, is secondary however to the benefits that will accrue through a public sector which is effectively structured and adequately resourced to provide services on a sustainable basis to South Africa's people.

Recent initiatives have also seen major advantages for rural communities who will benefit directly from the disposal of state forests. These include, for example, the annual payment of R3,5 million to the Siyaqubeka community in KwaZulu Natal and the ownership of 19 percent of the assets in the future by the community and workers. All jobs were also guaranteed for three years.

Furthermore, agreements were signed between government and labour that deal with the restructuring of Spoornet and Denel. These agreements cover social plans, the way forward, and jobs and benefits for workers. There have been other, ongoing engagements with organised labour, including 22 meetings with the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) to discuss Eskom restructuring, and numerous other meetings within the context of the National Framework Agreement (NFA) to deal with other sectors over the past 12 months or so.

These processes have been undertaken in line with the determination of the ANC National Executive Committee (NEC) late last year that the government's restructuring programme is rooted in the broad policy positions of the movement. These policy positions are outlined in the Freedom Charter, 'Ready to Govern' document and the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP), as well as resolutions on economic transformation adopted at the 1997 Mafikeng Conference and numerous NEC meetings. The ANC-led government remains firmly committed to the movement's enduring vision and path of growth and development.

As government continues to engage with stakeholders more broadly, the ANC remains committed to engaging with its Alliance partners ­- building on the progress made at the recent Alliance Summit - to address whatever differences may exist.

The Ekurhuleni Declaration, adopted at the Summit, provides a broad vision and framework within which these discussions will take place. They also take place within the broader process of policy review currently unfolding within structures of the ANC, which will culminate in the ANC National Policy Conference in September and the ANC's 51st National Conference in December -and in the context of preparations for the Growth and Development Summit, due to take place later in the year.

While the Alliance Summit agreed on the urgent need for discussion among the Alliance partners on differences around the restructuring of assets and other issues, it did not suggest that current government programmes in any area should be halted pending agreement.

The restructuring of state assets is necessary, among other things, to meet the challenge of sustainable economic development and growth. This can be illustrated by the example of the country's ports. In March this year government adopted the National Ports Policy that includes proposals for improving the operation of our ports. Over the past three or four years, our ports, and especially Durban Port, have not been able to adjust adequately to the rapid growth in exports and container traffic. As a result, massive congestion has become the order of the day, and this has contributed to pushing up prices, tariffs and other costs to make our ports uncompetitive and inefficient. Our economy cannot afford this situation and the long term effects of this problem will effect all of us, especially the workers and the poor.

Our national ports policy attempts to address some of these problems, including bringing in the private sector through a system of concessions of some port operations. These concessions will complement infrastructure plans that are already underway. The details of the concession programme will of course be worked out in consultation with all stakeholders, including labour, but time is of the essence. Government departments have the task of implementing government policy. The decision to fast-track the process in Durban, which formed part of government's announcement last week, means that everyone concerned must work much harder to meet tighter schedules.

Tribalism

Faceless claims disregard ANC's proud non-racial traditions

With more than six months to go to the ANC's 51st National Conference in December, various forces are already attempting to undermine the non-racial principles and democratic practices that have long been a feature of the African National Congress.

This was evident in an article that appeared in a weekly newspaper last Friday, purporting to forecast the outcome of national leadership elections at Conference. Masquerading as political analysis, the article claims that "disgruntled party groupings" - who remain nameless and faceless - are putting forward ANC National Chairperson Mosiuoa Lekota for the Deputy President position because he is Sotho-speaking.

Apart from being insulting and objectionable to the individuals it mentions, the article makes the outrageous suggestion that ANC leaders are elected or appointed to positions on tribal tickets, and that others are elected in order to undermine the leadership of the President.

These sentiments are alien to the traditions of the ANC and to the thinking and experiences of most ANC cadres.

The ANC was founded on an anti-racist and anti-tribalism platform. The opening address of the founding conference called for the burying of petty tribal jealousies and the banishment of the 'demon of tribalism'.

Throughout its history the ANC has never veered away from this orientation. Leaders of our movement have recalled Pixley ka Seme's words at every turn, especially when the movement resisted the apartheid regime-imposed agenda of bantustans and tribal orientation. The Freedom Charter, on the other hand, emphasised the unification of our people across the divide of race and ethnicity.

It is this policy orientation of the ANC's to which so many activists were drawn and for which they joined the organisation. It was never the position of the movement that its leaders were chosen on tribal tickets to represent certain tribal interests.

In the post-apartheid period the movement concentrated on combating racism within society, often with the consequence that tribalist tendencies have gone unnoticed. There is almost an assumption that since the disappearance of bantustans, tribalism went with them. Yet the reality is different -indications are there that the residual of some forty years of apartheid rule and propaganda has left deep scars in some sections of our communities. It is distressing that some people, even within the ANC, will seize on this harmful and potentially dangerous legacy to forward their own agendas, particularly around issues of leadership.

It is critical that ANC members do not fall victim to prompting from reactionary quarters to use tribal origins to determine leadership. Leaders must equally resist the temptation to allow themselves to be used in such counter-revolutionary machinations. Not only would this undermine the democratic transformation of South Africa, but it could help feed tribal division and strife.

What might appear to some unscrupulous people as a convenient ticket to self promotion has serious consequences for our society and its cohesion.

Alongside the suggestion that ANC leaders are elected on tribal lines, is the insinuation that the movement needs leaders who can stand up to the President. The branches of the ANC do not elect leaders for that purpose. They elect people to leadership so that they work as a collective to advance the objectives of the organisation. In all leadership structures of the ANC, at all levels, discussions take place over policies and programmes, strategies and tactics. The decisions of these structures do not reflect the will of a particular individual, but the positions accepted if not by all, then by the majority of the structure's members.

As the structures of the ANC prepare for National Conference, there are likely to be more assaults of this sort on the policies and practices of the ANC. They will most likely emanate from nameless "sources" within the movement, purporting to represent a "groundswell of opinion", and professing views which run counter to the ninety-year history of the ANC.

In the face of such assaults, it is essential that ANC members are not deterred from the policies of the movement on these issues. Those who accept nomination to positions of leadership should similarly be focussed on upholding these policies; and those who are canvassed on such negative motivations as tribalism or regionalism, should resist and expose reactionary tendencies.

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